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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012
Vol. CXXIII, No. 233
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF TACOMA Devoted to the Courts, Real Estate, Finance, Industrial Activities, and Publication of Legal Notices
Published Since 1890
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WSDOT, business groups work to keep supplies moving during emergencies
Photo Courtesy WSDOT With the memory of a flooded and closed Interstate 5 in the not too distant past, the Washington State Department of Transportation is prepared to keep freight moving when the next emergency threatens to close a key commerce corridor. In late December, WSDOT will complete a $2 million project to install cameras, electronic message boards, and upgrades to road signs and the highway advisory radio signal along US 12 and State Route 7, the roadways used as an emergency detour for I-5 through Lewis County. The technology and signs are upgrades to WSDOT's Commercial Vehicle Pass System (CVPS), a way to move critical freight when major truck corridors are closed or severely restricted. The CVPS allows emergency managers to categorize and prioritize emergency and essential goods during major disruptions and closures, giving first priority to disaster relief supplies. "We designed the pass system in 2009 with I-5 in Lewis County in mind," said Barb Ivanov, director of WSDOT's Freight Systems Division. "We've been very fortunate that we haven't had to put it into use, but we know that emergency closures can happen any time and want to be ready." After I-5 closed from flooding in 2007 (pictured above) and again in early 2009, WSDOT and the Washington Trucking Association, Washington State Patrol, Washington Emergency Management Division and Washington State Patrol developed the CVPS. Ivanov said WSDOT can modify the CVPS to work anywhere in the state when there is a multiday highway closure on a priority freight route and there is an alternate route available. "I-5 is one of our state's primary freight routes,
Tacoma breaks ground on South Sprague Avenue enhancement project
Tacoma City Councilmembers Ryan Mello and Lauren Walker joined Mayor Marilyn Strickland and Central Neighborhood Council Chair Justin Leighton Monday morning to break ground on the South Sprague Avenue enhancement project.
Posted online Mon., Dec. 3 Photo Courtesy City of Tacoma Tacoma city officials marked the beginning of construction of the South Sprague Avenue enhancement project with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning. The project will provide landscape improvements and enhanced visual buffers from South Sprague Avenue and the adjacent residential street to the east, known as residential Sprague or "Little Sprague," according to City staff. Just over half an acre of arterial roadway stormwater runoff will be treated with bio-retention rain gardens, and nearly half an acre will be enhanced with landscaping that will improve the city’s tree canopy and reduce rainwater runoff in the Foss watershed. A new median will be constructed in South Sprague Avenue to
provide traffic calming for a new neighborhood gateway wing also included in this project. Last month, Tacoma City Council awarded a $548,429.25 contract to Westwater Construction Company to complete the first phase of the project. The second phase of the project, which is tentatively schedule to begin next fall, is currently in the preliminary design phase. That phase of the project will include the installation of landscape plantings west side of South Sprague Avenue from South 23rd to 19th Streets, and the installation of pervious pavement, a defined parking lane (east side) and swales to improve drainage (west side) to the residential stretch of Sprague Avenue between South 25th and 19th Streets.
so it was important to have the cameras and signs on the road," she said. "But if we need to prioritize freight movement due to a long-term closure, we can put the CVPS into use for other freight routes too." Besides monitoring roadway and traffic condi-
tions during emergencies, WSDOT will use the new equipment in Lewis County to monitor traffic and provide traveler information on a day-to-day basis, supplementing its information available on the road and the WSDOT Traveler Information Web site.